Only one South African batsman has scored more Test runs; only one captain, among all countries, has led the team in more Tests; only one captain has achieved more Test wins; and no batsman has scored more Test runs as captain. In the decade that Graeme Smith has been around in Test cricket, he has achieved some pretty amazing numbers, both as batsman and as captain.

There have always been questions asked about Smith's technical proficiency - he tends to fall over and play across his front pad - but he hasn't let that get in the way of run-scoring. His Test aggregate of 8030 runs for South Africa (he has also played one Test for ICC World XI, scoring 12 runs) is second to Jacques Kallis' 12,296; Gary Kirsten played four more innings, but scored 741 fewer runs for South Africa. Kallis and Smith are the only ones from the country to score 3000-plus Test runs for a country at an average of 50 or more (though AB de Villiers, with an average of 49.16, isn't far away).

Smith's penchant for big scores is also reflected in his conversion of fifties into centuries - he has turned 24 of his 56 fifty-plus scores into hundreds, a rate of 43%. Smith's also the only South African to score four Test double-centuries. His technical flaws are a bit of a liability against certain types of bowling in certain conditions, but he has more than made up for that by his single-minded focus at the crease and his sheer appetite for runs.

As a captain, he isn't known particularly for his tactical nous - in the manner of, say, a Mark Taylor - but he has carried the team along remarkably well over a long period of time. In a job which usually takes its toll on players in four-five years, Smith has continued for nine years, and is only three Tests away from going past Allan Border's captaincy record of 93 Tests. Forty-two of his 91 Tests have yielded wins, which makes him the second-most successful Test captain in terms of victories, next to Ricky Ponting's 48. A few more good series could make him the first captain to notch up 50 Test wins.

Smith's preferred leadership method is to lead by example, and nowhere is this more evident than in his fourth-innings performances. When the pressure is on, when the team is faced with a stiff target in the last innings to win, Smith has invariably been at the forefront. He is one of only 21 batsmen to score 1000-plus runs in the fourth innings, and among them his average is fourth-best, marginally behind Younis Khan - who recently entered that league, during the Test series in Sri Lanka - Geoff Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar. He is also one of four batsmen to score four fourth-innings hundreds.

Batsmen with 1000-plus 4th innings runs at 50-plus averages

Batsman

Innings

Runs

Average

100s/ 50s

Younis Khan

25

1015

59.70

4/ 5

Geoff Boycott

34

1234

58.76

3/ 7

Sunil Gavaskar

33

1398

58.25

4/ 8

Graeme Smith

35

1504

57.84

4/ 9

Gordon Greenidge

38

1383

53.19

3/ 6

Ricky Ponting

42

1454

51.92

4/ 6

The fourth-innings matchwinner
When Smith has scored his fourth-innings runs, South Africa have usually won the match - he is the only batsman to score four fourth-innings centuries in wins. Three of those four hundreds have been in away Tests - 125 not out in Wellington in 2004, 154 not out at Edgbaston in 2008, and 108 in Perth later in the same year. His only home hundred in the fourth innings was an unbeaten 101 against Australia in Cape Town in an utterly captivating - and bizarre - low-scoring match. In fact, Smith is the only batsman to score 1000-plus runs in fourth innings in victories.

Most runs in 4th-innings wins

Batsman

Innings

Runs

Average

100s/ 50s

Graeme Smith

20

1085

90.41

4/ 6

Matthew Hayden

27

913

57.06

1/ 6

Ricky Ponting

24

911

82.81

3/ 4

Gordon Greenidge

23

850

65.38

1/ 4

Justin Langer

23

849

49.94

2/ 5

Desmond Haynes

30

809

67.41

1/ 4

Sachin Tendulkar

18

653

72.55

1/ 4

Overall, Smith has scored 55% of his Test runs in wins; his average in Test wins is 64.21, which drops to 27.28 in defeats. The difference of 36.94 is among the largest for batsmen who've been a part of at least 15 wins and defeats. In fact, South Africa haven't yet lost a Test when Smith has scored a hundred: of his 24 centuries, 16 have been in wins and eight in draws. (Click here for Smith's career summary in Tests.)

His best year
One of the features of Smith's decade-long Test career has been his consistency. Sure, he's had his share of lean series and bugbear bowlers, but he has seldom had a prolonged lean trot: only twice has he averaged less than 35 in a calendar year - in 2006 (27.00 in eight Tests) and in 2009 (30.42 in five). Of the 12 occasions when he has averaged less than 30 in a series, ten times he has bounced back with an average of more than 55 in the series immediately after that failure. (This excludes the one-off Super Test against Australia.) However, it's also true that Smith hasn't had a sustained run of brilliance with the bat - the most successive series in which he's averaged more than 50 is three, and even that he has achieved only once.

His one long stretch of outstanding form, though, was in 2008, when he narrowly missed averaging more than 50 in six consecutive series - he averaged 49.20 in three Tests in India in March that either; in three series before that and in two after, he averaged more than 59. (Click here for Smith's series-wise averages.) That year, Smith finished with 1656 runs from 15 Tests, which is the third-highest aggregate ever in a calendar year, next only to Mohammad Yousuf and Viv Richards. He is also one of only five batsmen to score more than 1500 Test runs in a calendar year.

Batsmen who've scored 1500-plus Test runs in a calendar year

Batsman

Year

Tests

Innings

Runs

Average

100s/ 50s

Mohammad Yousuf

2006

11

19

1788

99.33

9/ 3

Viv Richards

1976

11

19

1710

90.00

7/ 5

Graeme Smith

2008

15

25

1656

72.00

6/ 6

Sachin Tendulkar

2010

14

23

1562

78.10

7/ 5

Ricky Ponting

2005

15

28

1544

67.13

6/ 6

Ricky Ponting

2003

11

18

1503

100.20

6/ 4

Smith's leanest period in Test cricket came immediately before that bounty year: in the three years between January 2005 and December 2007, he averaged less than 40. In the last four-and-a-half years, his average is more than 55, thanks largely to 2008.

Smith's career average, though, is still a shade below 50. However, his average for South Africa is 50.18 in 98 Tests; in the only Test for ICC World XI, he scored 12 in two innings, which drags his overall average below 50. In this respect, his stats are uncannily similar to those of Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq, who had a career average of 49.60 in 120 Tests, and 50.16 in 119 Tests for Pakistan; in the Super Test, he scored one run in two innings. Unlike Inzamam, though, Smith has a chance to lift his overall average beyond 50 - if he gets out twice at The Oval, he needs to score at least 158 runs in the Test to ensure he has an average of 50 or more after his 100th Test.

Graeme Smith's Test career

Period

Tests

Runs

Average

100s/ 50s

Mar 2002-Dec 2004

30

2574

52.53

7/ 9

Jan 2005-Dec 2007

29

2008

39.37

5/ 9

Jan 2008 onwards

40

3460

55.80

12/ 14

Career

99

8042

49.64

24/ 32

Not at home
Smith has played in an era which has been good for batting, but he has also played a majority of his matches in South Africa, which has been the toughest place for batting during this period: since 2000, the batting average in South Africa is 30.35, the lowest among countries which have hosted at least 20 Tests. Smith's task is even more difficult by the fact that he opens the batting: South Africa has been the best country for fast bowling during this period. Given that background, it isn't all that surprising that his home stats are much poorer than his overseas numbers. Among batsmen who've played at least 25 Tests home and away, only nine have a higher difference between their overseas and home averages (overseas average higher than home one). One of those nine is his current team-mate AB de Villiers, who averages 60.02 overseas and 40.89 at home.

Highest difference between away and home average (Qual: 25 Tests each, home and away)

Batsman

Away Tests

Average

Home Tests

Average

Difference

Mohinder Amarnath

37

51.86

32

30.44

21.42

AB de Villiers

33

60.02

41

40.89

19.13

Ken Barrington

36

69.18

46

50.71

18.47

Wally Hammond

41

66.33

44

50.07

16.26

Alan Knott

39

42.27

56

26.72

15.55

Tony Greig

27

46.93

31

34.64

12.29

Stephen Fleming

57

45.92

54

33.87

12.05

Allan Border

70

56.57

86

45.94

10.63

Ted Dexter

30

53.65

32

43.04

10.61

Graeme Smith

48

54.52

51

44.64

9.88

Problems against left-arm pace
Among the different genres of bowling he faced, the kind that have had the most success against Smith are the left-arm fast variety. Apart from Zaheer Khan and Mitchell Johnson, who've given him plenty of grief, Smith has also been bothered by James Franklin (Test figures of 3 for 60 in 83 balls against Smith), Nathan Bracken (2 for 11 in 15 balls) and Pedro Collins (2 for 37 in 68 balls). Right-arm spinners have been pretty successful against him too (though Graeme Swann has figures of 1 for 110 in 212 balls), but Smith has handled left-arm slow bowlers pretty comfortably.

Smith v various types of bowling

Bowling type

Balls

Runs

Dismissals

Average

Run rate

Right-arm pace

7917

4968

92

54.00

3.76

Left-arm pace

1302

858

23

37.30

3.95

Right-arm spin

2549

1312

30

43.73

3.08

Left-arm spin

1418

807

14

57.64

3.41

The bowler who has dismissed him most often in Tests, though, is New Zealand's Chris Martin - eight times at an average of less than 25. Glenn McGrath was even more effective - not only did he dismiss Smith five times, he also conceded only 81 runs in 224 balls, a run-rate of 2.16 per over. Against all the other bowlers in the list below, Smith scored at a pretty healthy rate although they dismissed him fairly often. His stats against James Anderson are interesting too: though Anderson has dismissed him five times, Smith averages 71.40 against him.

Bowlers who've dismissed Smith most often in Tests

Bowler

Balls

Runs

Dismissals

Average

Run rate

Chris Martin

295

187

8

23.37

3.80

Zaheer Khan

284

178

6

29.67

3.76

Glenn McGrath

224

81

5

16.20

2.16

Mitchell Johnson

212

166

5

33.20

4.69

S Sreesanth

255

189

5

37.80

4.44

Andrew Flintoff

436

249

5

49.80

3.42

James Anderson

534

357

5

71.40

4.01

The captaincy record
Smith had played only eight Tests when he took over as captain, which means he has led the team in 91 out of the 99 Tests he has played. The percentage of 91.92 is already the highest among those who've played at least 20 Tests, and will only increase further since it's highly unlikely that he'll play another Test match as just a player.

These lines show his greatness: "Only one South African batsman has scored more Test runs; only one captain, among all countries, has led the team in more Tests; only one captain has achieved more Test wins; and no batsman has scored more Test runs as captain".
Dont compare him with greats of cricket, but he will consider the greats of the game once hes going to retire. The big thing about him as he took captaincy challenge in very young age when every one pointed finger on him (as like Nasser Hussain referred to him as "what's his name" in one interview in his captaincy regime).

Philippe
on July 20, 2012, 4:35 GMT

Guys.. Its simply wasteful to compare smith with SRT or RSD.. SRT & RSD far ahead of him in both the formats of game..

HyderabadiFlick
on July 19, 2012, 17:52 GMT

@SachTLG you are right about the numbers in word format. Jai Hind means "Victory to India" :) if you haven't already Googled it. @BHARATLIFE Remember people like you and me or some Tom, Dick and Harry are not worshiped buddy. It is only few chosen ones get the privilege of fan following around the world. In every walk of life there are legends and they are the lucky ones who get what they deserve.Just try to wake up at 4am for a week everyday let alone playing +180 tests, +450 ODIs for 23 years. So, it does not matter if he is a Legend, Great, God, Demi-God or Father of cricket. As I told earlier invariably the comments section focus shifts towards Sachin Tendulkar. The name is enough Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - Jai Hind

dummy4fb
on July 19, 2012, 15:16 GMT

Jai Hind means Long live the India
Hind is short form of Hindustan, Sub-continent is also knows as Hindustan

But when Pak and Ind separated in 1947 there is no effective meaning to this Hind slogan

9ST9
on July 19, 2012, 9:39 GMT

@HyderabadiFlick - i dont know if for each 1000 haters , but Tendulkar DEFINITELY has at least one billion two hundred forty-one million four hundred ninety-one thousand nine hundred sixty fans . BTW curios, what does "Jai Hind" mean?

Nuxxy
on July 19, 2012, 9:29 GMT

Thanks for highlighting the challenge of scoring runs in South Africa. It makes Smith's and Kallis's records even more impressive.

akpy
on July 19, 2012, 7:02 GMT

This article is about smith and he rightly deserves all the credit for being the cricketer he is. But i see every media person highlighting 4th innings, as if it is a miracle. Avid watchers will know that pitches in aus/sa favour 4th innings performances as they dont crumble like sub-continent wkts do and also, there are not many spinners who can take advantage like indians/pakis/srilankans, who obviously dont play day in and day out in sa/aus. If someone thinks that there is no pressure in 1st, 2nd, 3rd innings of a test match, they dont know their cricket. It all depends on the state of the game and someone setting up a game is as important as someone finishing the game. Otherwise, there is no diff between test and ODI, if it all depends on that 4th innings alone.

BHARATLIFE
on July 19, 2012, 6:25 GMT

@JustOUT, well, it is not as harsh as Dud there are certain innings, like the hearth breaker against Pakistan 1999, how about the 119 @ old trafford (at 16 years of age) or the 100 vs England in Chennai in 2008, chasing 380 . There are certain innings . Of course he has the advantage of good batting wickets , and opposition bowlers not accustoming to the Indian-Spinner friendly pitches in India. Of course he got run everywhere. But to the fanatics out there. let us leave him as a great "batsmen" , NOT A GOD.!!!!!!!

HyderabadiFlick
on July 19, 2012, 4:31 GMT

@JustOUT Please chill out buddy. Sachin Tendulkar was/is/will be great. Do not remind us all again and again what he is.Why do most of the people point out SRT in pretty much every article in Cricinfo even if he is no way relevant to the topic. That it self tells what SRT is? It is people like you make SRT even greater and bigger. There may be 1000s of SRT haters but for every 1000 you will get Billions of SRT lovers. Please only make relevant comments if you can. SRT is like a tail waving elephant even if he is criticized, he will just look at the show of things. Tell me some cricketer who is as humble as Sachin is? Anyone can achieve success but being humble is only synonyms with Legends like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and SRT. If he has scored a dud in 4th innings from where did he score runs at Avg 72 in 4th innings. Plz read the article thoroughly before commenting dude. - Jai Hind

dummy4fb
on July 19, 2012, 4:26 GMT

Smith is great player but Zaheer Khan's bunny. remember.. haha

ArsalanMujahidGhouri
on July 20, 2012, 18:45 GMT

These lines show his greatness: "Only one South African batsman has scored more Test runs; only one captain, among all countries, has led the team in more Tests; only one captain has achieved more Test wins; and no batsman has scored more Test runs as captain".
Dont compare him with greats of cricket, but he will consider the greats of the game once hes going to retire. The big thing about him as he took captaincy challenge in very young age when every one pointed finger on him (as like Nasser Hussain referred to him as "what's his name" in one interview in his captaincy regime).

Philippe
on July 20, 2012, 4:35 GMT

Guys.. Its simply wasteful to compare smith with SRT or RSD.. SRT & RSD far ahead of him in both the formats of game..

HyderabadiFlick
on July 19, 2012, 17:52 GMT

@SachTLG you are right about the numbers in word format. Jai Hind means "Victory to India" :) if you haven't already Googled it. @BHARATLIFE Remember people like you and me or some Tom, Dick and Harry are not worshiped buddy. It is only few chosen ones get the privilege of fan following around the world. In every walk of life there are legends and they are the lucky ones who get what they deserve.Just try to wake up at 4am for a week everyday let alone playing +180 tests, +450 ODIs for 23 years. So, it does not matter if he is a Legend, Great, God, Demi-God or Father of cricket. As I told earlier invariably the comments section focus shifts towards Sachin Tendulkar. The name is enough Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - Jai Hind

dummy4fb
on July 19, 2012, 15:16 GMT

Jai Hind means Long live the India
Hind is short form of Hindustan, Sub-continent is also knows as Hindustan

But when Pak and Ind separated in 1947 there is no effective meaning to this Hind slogan

9ST9
on July 19, 2012, 9:39 GMT

@HyderabadiFlick - i dont know if for each 1000 haters , but Tendulkar DEFINITELY has at least one billion two hundred forty-one million four hundred ninety-one thousand nine hundred sixty fans . BTW curios, what does "Jai Hind" mean?

Nuxxy
on July 19, 2012, 9:29 GMT

Thanks for highlighting the challenge of scoring runs in South Africa. It makes Smith's and Kallis's records even more impressive.

akpy
on July 19, 2012, 7:02 GMT

This article is about smith and he rightly deserves all the credit for being the cricketer he is. But i see every media person highlighting 4th innings, as if it is a miracle. Avid watchers will know that pitches in aus/sa favour 4th innings performances as they dont crumble like sub-continent wkts do and also, there are not many spinners who can take advantage like indians/pakis/srilankans, who obviously dont play day in and day out in sa/aus. If someone thinks that there is no pressure in 1st, 2nd, 3rd innings of a test match, they dont know their cricket. It all depends on the state of the game and someone setting up a game is as important as someone finishing the game. Otherwise, there is no diff between test and ODI, if it all depends on that 4th innings alone.

BHARATLIFE
on July 19, 2012, 6:25 GMT

@JustOUT, well, it is not as harsh as Dud there are certain innings, like the hearth breaker against Pakistan 1999, how about the 119 @ old trafford (at 16 years of age) or the 100 vs England in Chennai in 2008, chasing 380 . There are certain innings . Of course he has the advantage of good batting wickets , and opposition bowlers not accustoming to the Indian-Spinner friendly pitches in India. Of course he got run everywhere. But to the fanatics out there. let us leave him as a great "batsmen" , NOT A GOD.!!!!!!!

HyderabadiFlick
on July 19, 2012, 4:31 GMT

@JustOUT Please chill out buddy. Sachin Tendulkar was/is/will be great. Do not remind us all again and again what he is.Why do most of the people point out SRT in pretty much every article in Cricinfo even if he is no way relevant to the topic. That it self tells what SRT is? It is people like you make SRT even greater and bigger. There may be 1000s of SRT haters but for every 1000 you will get Billions of SRT lovers. Please only make relevant comments if you can. SRT is like a tail waving elephant even if he is criticized, he will just look at the show of things. Tell me some cricketer who is as humble as Sachin is? Anyone can achieve success but being humble is only synonyms with Legends like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and SRT. If he has scored a dud in 4th innings from where did he score runs at Avg 72 in 4th innings. Plz read the article thoroughly before commenting dude. - Jai Hind

dummy4fb
on July 19, 2012, 4:26 GMT

Smith is great player but Zaheer Khan's bunny. remember.. haha

JustOUT
on July 19, 2012, 1:40 GMT

4th innings means Smith. He is way better than some starwalt cricketers who scored 15k runs and a dud in 4th innings.. haha

No featured comments at the moment.

JustOUT
on July 19, 2012, 1:40 GMT

4th innings means Smith. He is way better than some starwalt cricketers who scored 15k runs and a dud in 4th innings.. haha

dummy4fb
on July 19, 2012, 4:26 GMT

Smith is great player but Zaheer Khan's bunny. remember.. haha

HyderabadiFlick
on July 19, 2012, 4:31 GMT

@JustOUT Please chill out buddy. Sachin Tendulkar was/is/will be great. Do not remind us all again and again what he is.Why do most of the people point out SRT in pretty much every article in Cricinfo even if he is no way relevant to the topic. That it self tells what SRT is? It is people like you make SRT even greater and bigger. There may be 1000s of SRT haters but for every 1000 you will get Billions of SRT lovers. Please only make relevant comments if you can. SRT is like a tail waving elephant even if he is criticized, he will just look at the show of things. Tell me some cricketer who is as humble as Sachin is? Anyone can achieve success but being humble is only synonyms with Legends like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and SRT. If he has scored a dud in 4th innings from where did he score runs at Avg 72 in 4th innings. Plz read the article thoroughly before commenting dude. - Jai Hind

BHARATLIFE
on July 19, 2012, 6:25 GMT

@JustOUT, well, it is not as harsh as Dud there are certain innings, like the hearth breaker against Pakistan 1999, how about the 119 @ old trafford (at 16 years of age) or the 100 vs England in Chennai in 2008, chasing 380 . There are certain innings . Of course he has the advantage of good batting wickets , and opposition bowlers not accustoming to the Indian-Spinner friendly pitches in India. Of course he got run everywhere. But to the fanatics out there. let us leave him as a great "batsmen" , NOT A GOD.!!!!!!!

akpy
on July 19, 2012, 7:02 GMT

This article is about smith and he rightly deserves all the credit for being the cricketer he is. But i see every media person highlighting 4th innings, as if it is a miracle. Avid watchers will know that pitches in aus/sa favour 4th innings performances as they dont crumble like sub-continent wkts do and also, there are not many spinners who can take advantage like indians/pakis/srilankans, who obviously dont play day in and day out in sa/aus. If someone thinks that there is no pressure in 1st, 2nd, 3rd innings of a test match, they dont know their cricket. It all depends on the state of the game and someone setting up a game is as important as someone finishing the game. Otherwise, there is no diff between test and ODI, if it all depends on that 4th innings alone.

Nuxxy
on July 19, 2012, 9:29 GMT

Thanks for highlighting the challenge of scoring runs in South Africa. It makes Smith's and Kallis's records even more impressive.

9ST9
on July 19, 2012, 9:39 GMT

@HyderabadiFlick - i dont know if for each 1000 haters , but Tendulkar DEFINITELY has at least one billion two hundred forty-one million four hundred ninety-one thousand nine hundred sixty fans . BTW curios, what does "Jai Hind" mean?

dummy4fb
on July 19, 2012, 15:16 GMT

Jai Hind means Long live the India
Hind is short form of Hindustan, Sub-continent is also knows as Hindustan

But when Pak and Ind separated in 1947 there is no effective meaning to this Hind slogan

HyderabadiFlick
on July 19, 2012, 17:52 GMT

@SachTLG you are right about the numbers in word format. Jai Hind means "Victory to India" :) if you haven't already Googled it. @BHARATLIFE Remember people like you and me or some Tom, Dick and Harry are not worshiped buddy. It is only few chosen ones get the privilege of fan following around the world. In every walk of life there are legends and they are the lucky ones who get what they deserve.Just try to wake up at 4am for a week everyday let alone playing +180 tests, +450 ODIs for 23 years. So, it does not matter if he is a Legend, Great, God, Demi-God or Father of cricket. As I told earlier invariably the comments section focus shifts towards Sachin Tendulkar. The name is enough Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - Jai Hind

Philippe
on July 20, 2012, 4:35 GMT

Guys.. Its simply wasteful to compare smith with SRT or RSD.. SRT & RSD far ahead of him in both the formats of game..